As the year 2020 comes to a close, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Parliament have put their respective programmes for the fight against the crisis on track for next year. The MEPs recently approved the approximately EUR 1.1tn Community budget for the next seven years, which includes EUR 750bn in Corona aid.
The eyes of the international business world are currently fixed on Vienna. At the OPEC headquarters in downtown Vienna, the oil cartel’s member states and its allies are currently haggling over production volumes, and thus the further development of oil prices, via video conference.
After unexpected replacements of the head of the central bank and the finance minister, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently declared war on the inflation and currency depreciation in his country with a new economic programme. In doing so, Erdogan is radically turning away from his previous economic policy line by relying on foreign investment and monetary stability.
According to current forecasts by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economy should be able to handle the consequences of the corona pandemic somewhat better than has been feared. In its eagerly awaited global economic outlook for this year, the IMF now expects global economic output to decline by only 4.4 per cent. The IMF has thus adjusted its last forecast from June by 0.5 percentage points.
In the midst of the corona crisis, following the first TV debate and US president Donald Trump’s infection with the corona virus, the race for the US presidential office enters its critical phase. In nationwide opinion polls, Democratic candidate Joe Biden is currently ahead of Republican incumbent Trump.
Japan officially entered a new era on Wednesday: As was expected, Japan’s new head of government Yoshihide Suga was elected Prime Minister by the majority of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), succeeding Shinzo Abe.
US President Donald Trump has escalated his fight against the Chinese-owned social media services TikTok and WeChat, and in the process also caused new tensions in the trade dispute with China.
The pharmaceutical companies and universities racing to develop a corona vaccine are making strides: according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 25 candidates are currently undergoing clinical trials.
Despite the recent border openings, the corona pandemic continues to impact the aviation industry.
With the opening of many European countries’ borders, the travel industry, which has been severely affected by the response measures to the coronavirus pandemic, is also hoping for a revival of travel and tourism, which has virtually come to a standstill.
